It is my understanding, and perhaps I am wrong, that the first step toward Israel accepting the right of Palestine to exist was the creation of the governments in Gaza and West Bank and allowing the Palestinians the ability to elect their own government.
They were rewarded by the Palestinians electing Hamas, who refuses to acknowledge the right for Israel to exist. Israel was working toward a peaceful dual state environment when the Palestinian people slammed the door in their face.
Now, I personally believe that was more due to the Extremist Muslim factions gaining enough control to influence the voting the same way other extremist groups have been able to come into existence, a willingness to use force to gain power despite not being an actual majority.
Remove the extremists, allow the Moderates to govern, they will accept Israel (I believe, based on things I've heard Moderate Muslims say in the past and general preference for peace), Israel in turn accepts Palestine, a path toward coexistence is put forth and things can improve.
Conversely, put pressure on Israel to accept Hamas and their extremist state of Palestine as legit, opening the door for Hamas to acquire more weapons and eventually launch a full out assault against Israel. End result of that, based on recent history, is Israel defeats Palestine and we are right back where we are currently, minus the lives of the likely hundreds of thousands who die as a result of that war.
Now, Hamas COULD change their position and acknowledge Israel's right to exist. That would make for a promising move forward without more killing. Unfortunately, as the international community is more focused on criticizing Israel and blaming them for the recent deaths without holding Hamas accountable in the least, well that doesn't exactly bode well for the possibility that Hamas will change their ways anytime soon, so I do not anticipate the current Cease Fire to have much impact unfortunately.
